A mentor of President Chen Shui-bian (
Professor Lee Hung-hsi (
Lee, a law professor at National Taiwan University who had taught Chen when he was a student there and has continued to provide him with advice throughout his political career, is now president of the Ketagalan Institute, a school founded by Chen last year with the aim of nurturing future leaders.
Lee recalled that in June 1960, he was sent to the outpost island to serve as a military judge. Then-US president Dwight Eisenhower arrived in Taiwan on June 18 that year, and Eisenhower and then-Taiwan president Chiang Kai-shek (
He said that China fired a total of 173,000 shells at Kinmen on June 17 and June 19 that year, adding that "I had mixed feelings revisiting the island after more than four decades."
Lee also said that he agreed with Kinmen Magistrate Lee Chu-feng's (
Kinmen could play the role of a "buffer zone and a revolving door" across the Taiwan Strait, he pointed out, adding that before direct trade and transportation links between Taiwan and China are established, the government could focus on improving the present "small three links" between the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu and the Chinese province of Fujian so as to avoid direct confrontations between the two sides.
He expressed the hope that both sides would seek the opportunity for cooperation through the exchanges and integration, adding that both sides now have an understanding of each other and have made compromises in their respective progress after years of such exchanges and integration.
"If the gap in national income, democratic development and human rights protection between the two sides gradually narrows, the cross-strait confrontation will sort itself out in due time," he said.
Lee, who arrived in Kinmen early yesterday to the warm welcome of Kinmen Magistrate Lee, also saluted in a ceremony the famous academic Chu Hsi (朱熹) from the Southern Sung Dynasty (1127-1278) who came to Kinmen to propagate his teachings. He also visited the island's military facilities and scenic spots.
Lee urged the Ketagalan faculty members to take notice of the impact of the "small three links" while they toured the island.
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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